Why Dirty Texting Is Worse Than Physical Cheating

Choose a Girl

They choose isolated and remote locations where they are unlikely to be recognized—places you would never visit. To avoid being spotted, they meticulously plan these encounters, and often use valid excuses for their absence—such as a work meeting, a hangout with friends, or a trip to the gym. This calculated discretion helps them maintain their cover stories, and ensures that nothing seems out of the ordinary. No self-identifying information is required to sign up, and nothing is permanently stored.

• No matter how you slice it, if you’re pouring yourself into these other emotional connections without also building on the emotional connection you have with your partner, something may be lacking in your relationship.
• A visual summary of the process is presented as a flow chart in Figure 1.
• Sexting is the practice of sending or receiving sexual text messages.
• When you hide your phone and get to another room to text that means that you’re hiding something.
• As such, several studies have highlighted that sexting behaviors increase as adolescents grow older [2,10].

Is Sexting Good or Bad for a Relationship?

This consistent behavior helps them deflect suspicion and maintain the appearance of being fully invested in your relationship. Cheaters often rely heavily on password protection to keep their activities hidden. They might change passwords that were previously shared—or add new ones to devices that were previously unprotected. Additionally, they may secure individual apps and folders with their own passwords to ensure they can’t be accessed without permission.

Why do some feel as though this is cheating?

But it can easily slip into something deeper, especially if you’re texting with the person throughout the day. You might think you’re only sharing things with certain people, but anyone can save and send pictures and texts to others (even with Snapchat or other hidden photo apps). Once it’s out there, you have no control over who can see your picture, and no way of getting it back. Even if you delete it from your phone, page, or profile, other people can save or copy the image and spread it around. Sexting — or using your phone to send sexual pictures, videos, or texts — might seem like no big deal.

How to deal with a partner who’s sexting someone else

You might realize that relationships may not be trustworthy, not invest in close relationships, and avoid intimacy all together. When you’re ready, it might be helpful to ask your boyfriend to set some time aside to talk. Explaining the situation and how you felt when you saw the texts could be a good way to start the conversation. You may also ask if he feels as though he’s getting what he needs out of the relationship. Being able to talk through these factors will hopefully allow you two to work through this situation and any other underlying relationship concerns you have.

So you plan a fun date night to spice things up in your relationship, but your partner turns down your idea. “If someone is anxious/avoidant and another person is secure, they might feel neglected,” Williams says. “They might not have the skills to communicate what they need or what they’re not getting.” Instead, go do something else to distract yourself, and see if in 30 minutes you still have the urge to text them.